Maybe that Buddha is embarrassed by all the ornate carvings surrounding their seat?

I kid, of course. What it does remind me of, however, is an old meditation trick that I can't remember the source of: placing the thumbs in the ears, pinching the mouth closed with the small and ring fingers, pinching the nose closed with the middle fingers, and holding the eyes closed with the forefingers. Very forcibly withdrawn, it seems.

"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]

Bhikkhus, if you develop and make much this one thing, it invariably leads to weariness, cessation, appeasement, realization and extinction. What is it? It is recollecting the Enlightened One. If this single thing is recollected and made much, it invariably leads to weariness, cessation, appeasement, realization and extinction.Anguttara-Nikaya: Ekanipata: Ekadhammapali: PañhamavaggaVSMVMMWBBTBHTWTBTMy Page

As Bonsai Doug mentions, it is a "Phra Pidta". One does not typically see these represented in buchas/statuary, being more typically made as votive tablets or amulets to be portable.

"Phra Pidta" is a more current Thai name. The archaeological evidence indicate that the older Siamese appellation was Bakawambodi. This is believed to be a corruption of "Phra Gavampati", Gavampati being possibly one of the first 11 Arahants (according to the Pali Vinaya), or one of Ven Sariputta's disciples (according to the Mahasanghika Vinaya).

There's supposed to be an 11th century statue of Gavampati attested from Burma's 11th century, dedicated by King Anawrahta.

As to why it has this peculiar iconographic representation, even Ven Dhammanando could not trace its origins. The Pali tradition credits him with having stopped a tsunami in its tracks, but I can't see how that relates to his eyes being closed.

++++++++++++++++This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

There is freedom from birth, freedom from becoming, freedom from making, freedom from conditioning. If there were not this freedom from birth, freedom from becoming, freedom from making, freedom from conditioning, then escape from that which is birth, becoming, making, conditioning, would not be known here. -- Ud 80

Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireas na daoine.People live in one another’s shelter.

Bhikkhus, if you develop and make much this one thing, it invariably leads to weariness, cessation, appeasement, realization and extinction. What is it? It is recollecting the Enlightened One. If this single thing is recollected and made much, it invariably leads to weariness, cessation, appeasement, realization and extinction.Anguttara-Nikaya: Ekanipata: Ekadhammapali: PañhamavaggaVSMVMMWBBTBHTWTBTMy Page

++++++++++++++++This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

There is freedom from birth, freedom from becoming, freedom from making, freedom from conditioning. If there were not this freedom from birth, freedom from becoming, freedom from making, freedom from conditioning, then escape from that which is birth, becoming, making, conditioning, would not be known here. -- Ud 80

Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireas na daoine.People live in one another’s shelter.

That being said, I do wear an Ajahn Chah medallion every day, even if he had refused to consecrate it. Word has it that the medallions were promptly consigned to the pit by Ajahn Chah when he was presented with them. Not wanting to waste a good thing, the donor retrieved them. Small numbers have been trickling into the market. Just ask for the BE 2518 Phim Niyom, and the Thai dealers will groan about how impossible it is to find.

I won't grow rich from that medallion...

Last edited by Sylvester on Fri Oct 21, 2011 8:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

Phra means Monk or amulet and Pidta means close eyed. The image of this person closing its face with his palms is a symbolical image of Maha Thera Sanghajay in Sammabart meditation. In Sammabart meditation one will go into deep absorption, as a result jhanas will appear.

From what I can gather from the mangled sales-pitch, the Thai "sammabart" is a corruption of "sammapatti" (attainment). Specifically, the idea that a consecrator would have been on a long retreat in a "sammabart" (making a gift to such a monk highly meritorious) leads me to think that the salesman was thinking of Nirodha Sammapatti.

PS - the Thai predilection for equating Phra Pidta with Sangkachai (Sangkachai = Sang + Kaccayana, where "Sang" is a Skt honorific used commonly in SEAsia meaning "the Venerable") doesn't really have a firm ground. Besides which, if the Thais knew their Sarvastivadin Avadanas, they'll realise that the Ven Kaccayana did not uglify himself on account of the ladies - he did it to avoid another homoerotic episode such as Sorreya's lust for his golden skin.